Recovery Mode

One of the best parts about being really sick is the opportunity to re-evaluate "health" from the perspective of its opposite. This past week, I had this chance as my body succumbed to "that flu that is going around," and my days involved periods of being asleep and periods of wishing I was asleep. During this time, unable to proceed with all the things that "had to get done," I realized afresh that the world continues to spin without me watching over it. Additionally, the care and concern of my husband was decidedly evident, as was the flexibility that home education allows under such circumstances.

My homeschooling student graciously caught the flu at the same time I did, and we were both "sickies" together. "Oh," you say, "you must have lost a lot of school time." But the truth of the matter is that we were able to shift our focus from our normal routine and found opportunities to use the faculties we had at our disposal (ability to watch and hear things) and used the DVDs graciously brought in by my husband/nurse. Whether we were viewing a documentary, an educational video, or just a movie, each gave us the opportunity to discuss things like Biblical worldviews in modern depictions of life and living.

With chicken soup in hand, vaporizers going, and tissue boxes strewn throughout the room, we were able to discuss things like: What perspective do the main characters have regarding God and law? How do the characters identify and solve their problems? Was the truth about sin revealed or were transgressions white-washed, or worse, exalted? ---- Although no threat of testing or papers to write accompanied these excursions into learning, learning was indeed taking place.

I cannot stress enough the necessity for the homeschool curriculum to be infused and saturated with a thoroughly Biblical worldview that instills the premise that God's Word speaks to every area of life and thought. Then, even when a "break" from the normal is necessary, the time can still be redeemed in a God-honoring and productive fashion.